The Diary Girl
by Electriranger
Summary: While I'm working on a three-way X-over, I made another story! It's a bunch of stories with a girl named Annalise and how she got involved with NCIS... She writes a lot in her diary... Mild language and violence, mostly revolves around Tony on NCIS parts
1. Story 1, Chapter 1

Please comment! Note: I don't own NCIS, but I do own Annalise Marie Edwards… And her parents…

* * *

**Story 1: Adopted**

**Chapter 1**

"Dear Diary," a girl wrote on her blue book, "You may know that I am parentless… And you are my new diary. I already filled up my other 3 diaries… Anyway, you may know me as Annalise Marie Edwards. I have curly brown hair, brown eyes, and I'm tall. 5'3", that is; I really hate running and crap, and I really like it when people compliment me. Now that I informed you about myself, I will tell you about what happened today." Annalise read over what she wrote before nodding, smiling, and continuing to write with her blue pencil, "Today, I looked outside my window and saw some kids playing with their parents. I felt sad for myself since I had no parents… But except that I felt at peace watching others hanging with their parents. But, sometimes I wonder: Do they like hanging out with their parents? Or do they just need to because they know they'll give everything to them? I just have to wonder… Anyway, the cutest boy here asked me if I wanted to hang with him! I said YES! I love it! I might hang out with him after chores are done…" She finished off by signing her name below the page: "Sincerely, Annalise Marie Edwards." She closed up the book and continued what she was doing beforehand; fixing up yet another bed. She sighed as she grew bored of this chore that she regretted the most.

xXx

In the NCIS office, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo filled in paperwork; he sighed since he really hated filling out paperwork. His green eyes concentrated on the white sheet of paper on his desk as he felt his coworkers stare at him. He asked aloud, "Ziva, what are you doing and why are you looking at me?"

Ziva smiled at Tony and replied, "I like watching you do paperwork. At least you are quiet and your tongue is shut."

Tony looked up at the ex-Mossad and corrected, "Mouth is shut, Zi."

Ziva nodded and smiled at the same time as she giggled to Tony, "I will get used to you doing papers!"

Tony sighed, but then smiled as he thought of a vengeance. "Zee-VAH, I really want to know why you aren't talking to that boyfriend of yours," Tony smiled to Ziva, hoping for an answer.

Ziva smiled, but then replied sternly, "We broke up yesterday…"

Tony looked at her at first, and then he opened his mouth and said, "I'm sorry…"

Ziva nodded to Tony and explained calmly, "No, it's alright; he was cheating anyway…"

Tony's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly calmed down. "Oh, he cheated on you?"

Ziva nodded in remorse as Special Agent Timothy McGee walked in the bullpen. "Hey guys," McGee cheerily greeted, "What's going on?"

Tony and Ziva replied at the same time, "Nothing much, Tim."

McGee nodded and smiled to them as he walked to his desk and set his stuff down. Not long afterwards, they started a conversation about how confusing paperwork was from their last case, and they enjoyed themselves.

xXx

The curly-haired girl looked outside her window, out in the park. She loved that park at a young age; her parents used to take her there until they were murdered. She loved her parents; she didn't know why that terrible person decided to take them from her. She shrugged and continued watching the outside, where she wished she was, when she suddenly saw a man running for his life. Her eyes followed him, not aware that someone else entered her view. She looked closely to notice the details of the running men, and wrote them down in her diary as she continued observing, "They both have brown hair… Straight, 6 feet tall…" She watched as one of the men (who was wearing a gray sweatshirt, she noticed) tackled the man in front. She noticed that the other man didn't move after the tackle, and she became worried.

"Is he dead?" Annalise wondered to herself. She decided to take a closer look with some binoculars from the closet standing in her room. Quickly, she grabbed the binoculars and ran back to her window. She applied the binoculars and saw something unpredictable; the man that tackled the other man was standing over the body, kicking it and making sure he was dead.

"Well," Annalise remarked, "I was right about him trying to kill him. But, why in that park?" She shrugged again, but she saved her questions for later; right now, she overheard outside some screams and panic that were related to what she had just witnessed.

xXx

It was certain that McGee, Ziva, and Tony would all be talking about past relationships. They all shared aloud what they all did earlier in the year as well as the relationships they had with other people way in the past. "Hey, McGee," Ziva asked, referring to their current subject, "How did it go with Maxine? Did your date go as Tony planned?"

McGee smiled at that question; only he knew how it went with Maxine, until he told them what had happened. "Well, Ziva, thank you for asking," McGee proudly answered, "Our date went very well! We were on the same team at laser tag. We were on the blue team, and we were the last two standing on our team against 5 people from each of the other teams. We terminated everyone from that point, and we both won. After we won, Maxine kissed me, and I kissed her back…"

At that phrase, McGee blushed; it only seemed like yesterday that he had done that. Tony smiled and faced McGee's desk, grinning the question, "Are you going to go out with her again?"

McGee looked at Tony and nodded with a smile.

"YES!" Tony cheered.

"Well, when is it?" Ziva asked McGee, facing him.

McGee directed his eyes to Ziva, and he smiled, "Hopefully tomorrow; we're going to go to her apartment to play Warcraft for a while…"

"You mean World of Warcraft, Tim?" a sudden voice rang through the bullpen and into his desk; it was Special Agent Gibbs.

"Uh-huh… How d-d-d-d-did you kn-kn-know, Boss?" McGee staggered embarrassingly to Gibbs.

Gibbs ignored the question and announced, "Gear up, team. We're going to Merino Park after a dead Marine. McGee, since you're talking a lot, call Ducky and tell him to meet us there."

McGee nodded and started dialing the number to Autopsy as the rest of the team gathered up their backpacks, walked and waited in front of the elevator.

xXx

"Dear Diary," Annalise wrote in her little blue diary, "Today was stranger than any day I had ever encountered. Today, I witnessed a murder! What shall I do, Diary? Should I tell someone? Should I freak out? What if the guy who murdered the other guy saw me watching them? It seems very unlikely, but I believe it could happen..."

A little while passed for Anna in order for her to think about what she could write next. She thought and pondered, and then that little mouse wheel in her head started turning. She continued to write, "You know, I should just keep quiet about all of this… I have to; if the guy saw me, then I'll die! But maybe if those feds get here, when they find out I'm a witness, I'll get protection… Right? It's always something to consider… But maybe I don't want protection; maybe I just want a home for myself… And maybe I want a family who can take care of me the way my deceased parents used to do…"

Annalise sighed and closed her blue pencil inside her blue diary. She held it in her left hand as the federal agents arrived in their dark-colored cars. She noticed that the coroner also arrived; it said "Medical Examiner" on the front of the truck, and it said "NCIS" on its sides. She wondered what they were doing since her view was somewhat blocked by the amount of vehicles at the park. She moved away from the window and laid down on her blue bed to stare at the ceiling and, hopefully, get herself lost in her head.

xXx

At the crime scene, the team immediately started working. Ducky and McGee went directly to the corpse while Tony and Ziva went around the park to gather up evidence. Agent Gibbs went over to the people who witnessed the body at its location as they were panicking about the incident. Unfortunately, none of those witnesses saw the murder take place, Gibbs discovered, so they ruled out any witnesses. Tony and Ziva only found blood and the knife used for the murder; Ducky and McGee found the time of death and the victim's name.

"His name is Captain Chantey Nomhoust," McGee explained to Gibbs when he stopped next to them, "He's 40 years old, and he has no wife or children."

Ducky added to McGee's explanation with his sweet British accent, "He was supposed to be deported only a while ago. We have no clue unto how he could have avoided it… The cause of death was a stab to the poor man's back, causing massive blood loss…"

He looked up to a window of a nearby building and noticed nobody there. He tilted his head; he swore that he saw a little girl standing up there, watching them work… Gibbs noticed how lost he was and asked his old friend, "Why are you looking up there, Duck?"

Ducky tilted his head and looked at his friend to say, "Jethro, I swear that there was a girl looking down here… She must have went away after she saw what was happening."

Gibbs looked at Ducky, but then decided to look at the window himself. "Hmm…" Gibbs recalled, "I did see a girl standing at the window…" They tilted their heads at the same time and same direction before Gibbs said aloud, "She must be a potential witness; we have to find that room…"

xXx

Avoiding looking to the outside, Annalise could hear the commotion outside. She looked up at the ceiling; as she did, she could feel her hearing slowly deteriorate. It completely went away after a minute, and all she was left hearing was the sullen music that made itself a home in her head. It sounded like violins and cellos and wind instruments making a harmony in her ears. Anna couldn't hear anything else but that; well, actually, she could hear her thoughts, but nothing on the outside of her head. She didn't pay much attention to anything after that phase popped up, but then the sudden loud BANG of the door slapping itself shut woke her out of her trance.

"What the hell?" Annalise exclaimed to the person who barged in, which was another girl that she didn't like. Not only was this other girl her roommate, but this other girl hated everyone by their looks…

"What the hell are you doing here?" the other girl asked in her snotty voice.

Annalise rolled her eyes and replied, "This is my room too, Suzanne…"

Suzanne stomped over to Annalise and shoved her face into her own. She said harshly to Annalise, "Do NOT call me Suzanne. Got it, you tramp?"

Annalise wouldn't let names stop her in her tracks; instead, she made a good comeback. "Maybe I wouldn't call you Suzanne if you didn't call anyone else a bad name," she replied.

Suzanne stopped in her tracks and shoved Anna's head into her bed. "I don't think you understand," she growled rather harshly, "NOBODY calls me Suzanne, and you're no exception. Maybe this'll teach you."

She turned Annalise over and almost shoved her face in the bed when Annalise kicked her groin and screamed, "LET ME GO, YOU B***H!"

"Aww, hell to you!" Suzanne flinched at the kick before retreating from the room.

Annalise picked up her head and took a few deep breaths before laying down back on her back to stare even more at the ceiling. As she stared, she wrote what had happened in her small blue diary to remind herself that life can be as cruel as your roommate; she would usually say that, but today was the living example for her.

xXx

Tony was closer to the building than anyone else when he heard the screaming. "Oh crap!" he whispered in worry; he may not know what was going on, but he felt like he had to protect that person. He bolted into the building and ran up three flights of stairs before watching as a red-headed girl (apparently 5-foot-10) walked awkwardly out of a room. He could already tell she hated people; as she brushed past him, she didn't bother to make eye contact with anyone. He shrugged and shuffled to the room the other girl walked out of to see a blue girl lying down on a blue bed.

'_This is weird… Is it Blue Day today?_' Tony thought to himself in confusion as he walked to the girl. She was writing as she was staring off into space, he noticed, so he decided to read what she wrote.

He read from the little blue book: "Dear Diary, Suzanne almost beat me up today. MAN, is she a bitch! Oh well, can't deal with the hopeless people, especially if they don't want you to call them by their name… I wish she could like people; she's like a homophobic! Uggh! Wait, if she was homophobic, where would she be? Point being since she is my roommate… So she would have no room? That's confusing…Oh well, let's put my thoughts to the side and get to that 'beating up' part. I kicked her in between her legs because she was trying to choke me in my own bed. Isn't that bitchy? It would've turned into a cat fight if I wasn't in bed… It would've been worse, actually, because I'm strong enough to put her in the ground… Not really saying that I WOULD put her in the ground… But I could try and succeed…"

Tony noticed that the girl signed her name below the page: "Whatever… From, Annalise Marie Edwards"

He decided to say something to this "Annalise" girl, so he asked, "You got roomie probs, too?"


	2. Story 1, Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you SO much, lilpretender, for adding a story and author alert! Also, thanks to the 32 visitors and 39 hits…

* * *

**Story 1: Adopted**

**Chapter 2**

"Oh Geez!" Annalise turned her head to see a scruffy brown-haired man standing in front of her bed. She was somewhat confused; how did he get in here? WHY did he get in here? "Uh…" Annalise replied once she took note that he asked her a question (which was a few seconds later), "Yeah… I'm guessing you did, too?"

Tony smiled at the girl as he answered, "Yeah, when I was your age."

Annalise smiled to him, wondering if anyone like him would adopt her.

"So… I was just in here because someone was screaming…" Tony explained, knowing that it was the girl in front of him was the screamer.

"Yeah, pretty true," Annalise's head nodded like a bobble head's at that question.

They both nodded at each other before Tony introduced himself to Annalise in the corniest of fashions: "Oh, by the way, my name is _Very_ Special Agent Tony DiNozzo from NCIS. You must be…?"

"Annalise Marie Edwards," she introduced herself, "14, parentless, and hoping for a way out of this hell…"

Tony nodded and held out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Annalise," he smiled to the girl; Annalise took his hand and shook it in reply, "Nice to meet you, Agent DiNozzo."

They both could hear someone call out Tony's name, so he stuck his head out the window and yelled, "I'm up here, Boss!"

Tony and Annalise could hear the boggling question: "Do you see someone else up there, DiNozzo?"

Tony nodded and shouted, "She's up here with me, but don't worry!"

Gibbs yelled back to Tony, "Get her down here! We need a good talk!"

Tony screamed to his boss, "OKAY!" before grabbing Annalise's arm and almost dragged her out of the room.

"WAIT!" Anna screamed and released herself from his tight grasp. She ran over to her bed and grabbed the diary before smiling, "Okay, let's go."

xXx

As the team was driven to their agency, Annalise was caught writing in her diary. "Dear Diary," she wrote with her blue pencil, "Today is TOTALLY my day! You TOTALLY don't know what happened to me! Alright, I was in my room, fighting with Suzanne, right? Well, a federal agent from NCIS heard me scream! And now they think I'm a witness to this murder I don't even know about (or DO I know?) Anyway, it's going to be SO fun! I hope everything works out and that they catch this evil bastard."

She signed her name in the usual way, and she smiled upon reading her diary; she decided that she could write stories when she grew older… Or would she? She hadn't decided at all since she never thought about it… She decided to sketch something in that blue book of hers; she started to sketch two people playing with a Frisbee. She remembered playing with Frisbees a year before her parents died; their favorite activity was playing with Frisbees. Tony peered to the side and saw Annalise's sketch on the page and patted the closest shoulder.

"You're pretty good…" Tony complimented, and then muttered to himself, "Much better than I am…"

Annalise faced DiNozzo and smiled to him, "I heard that! But… Thanks." They smiled to each other as she wrote for the rest of the ride.

XxX

When they got to the interrogation room, Annalise wrote in her diary, "This somewhat sucks. I mean, how am I going to deal with this secret? Oh well… Also, Gibbs did tell me about the case on the ride here… Oh, if only I pretended that I didn't know crap!" She thought about what she had written as Agent Gibbs entered the metallic room.

'_Oh shit…_' Anna thought as he entered the space with a cup of coffee, '_I SO cannot mess with him…_'

Annalise looked a bit scared, but she was ready when Agent Gibbs sat down in front of her and asked in a calming voice, "Were you standing at the northeast window? You know… The one closest to the park?"

"With the beautiful view of the park?" Anna answered, "Yep, that's my window alright."

"Why were you standing there?" Gibbs interrogated, hoping for a decent answer.

Annalise sighed a bit before explaining, "I was bored with my life. I'm a writer, true, but I get bored with stuff sometimes…"

"Okay," Gibbs asked, "What did you see?"

Annalise went through her mind before grabbing her diary and flipping to a page. "Here," Annalise explained as she handed him the diary, "This is the entry that I wrote about the murder…"

Gibbs eyed the diary before taking it from her and reading it. After a few minutes, Gibbs read from the diary entry, "_Diary, I don't know if you will ever believe me, but the dude tackled the other dude to the ground! Something shined in that dude's hand, too… I think he was holding something? Anyway, I never knew these dudes, but I certainly feel bad for the dude that got tackled…_"

Annalise's head burrowed in her arms embarrassingly as she sighed, "Yeah, I wrote that…"

"Then why did you feel bad for him, Anna?" Gibbs asked her in his final question.

Annalise sighed calmly as she replied in remorse, "When I saw him, I thought of my parents. My parents were killed, and when I saw him, I thought he wouldn't meet his demise until I saw the killer kick the dude's stomach…" She sighed once again, and Gibbs left the room. Annalise took her diary from where Gibbs sat and took her blue pencil from her denim jean pocket.

She started to write, "Wow, I can't believe I was able to survive an interrogation…"

xXx

Tony watched the interrogation from the dark room next to the metal room. Ziva curled her wavy hair with her fingers as she eyed Tony's worried face. She looked directly to Tony and asked, "You are very, very worried that she may be involved in this case somehow… Why is that, Tony?"

Tony kept his eyes on Annalise and her diary as he sighed and explained, "Zi, I'm worried because she has no family… She has nobody to rely on but her headmaster… And, trust me, her headmaster is the worst one I've ever seen or heard from…"

Ziva was about to say something else, but Gibbs walked in just in time. "We have a potential suspect thanks to Abby finding a fingerprint on the knife we found and Annalise's witness statement…" He looked directly to Tony as he assigned, "You're on witness protection, DiNozzo." He looked to Ziva and ordered, "Catch our guy; McGee has his name and address."

Ziva nodded and left the room, but Tony kept eyeing Anna. Gibbs stepped over next to him and looked to the side of Tony's face. "Did you hear me, DiNozzo?" he glared at him as he asked.

Tony nodded his head, but asked, "Why me, Boss? Why not McBabysitter or Zee-vah?"

Gibbs eyed him before chuckling softly, "You have an interest in her, and she has an interest in you. What do you think, Tony?"

xXx

Annalise, being the writer, never stopped writing for anything. In the interrogation room, she wrote in her baby blue diary, "You know, I always depended on my father more than my mother. You know, like a daddy's girl would do. Maybe it's because I'm a tomboy… But maybe it's because guys understand me more than girls do…" Annalise continued to write as she remembered something from her haunting past.

_xxx_

_"Hey, Annie," a tall man with curly brown hair and soft chocolate eyes softly smiled to a young girl that looked a lot like him, and walked over to her from the front wooden door. _

_Annalise looked up at the tall man as she sat at the bottom step of the carpeted staircase and shouted happily, "Daddy!" She hopped off of the step and tackled her father delicately. _

_The older man picked up his 5-year-old daughter and embraced her in a massive bear hug as she giggled in her loud voice. "Daddy, you're home!" she shouted to him as she hugged his neck, her short, curly, chocolate hair rubbing against his face. _

_The father noticed this and asked the toddler, "When was the last time you brushed your hair down?" _

_The young Annalise giggled and replied, "I can't brush my hair down yet, Daddy!" _

_"Maybe if your mother helped you, you can," Annalise's father smiled to Anna and picked her up over his shoulders. _

_Ann grinned and asked, "Where are we going, Daddy?" _

_The father grinned back, "We're going to FLY around the house!" _

_He started running in the house, Annalise sitting over his shoulders as she started to laugh loudly. She was enjoying it until her mother, blonde and tall with green-gray eyes, stepped in front of them and sternly said, "Robert… You know you can't be 'flying' around with Ann on your back…" _

_Robert frowned back to his wife, "Sorry, Ilene… I just got home, though…" _

_Ilene smiled a tiny smile to her husband before forgiving, "Aww, honey! It's alright since you just got home!" _

_The two hugged, Annalise still on Robert's back, and Ilene whispered to Robert's ear as they hugged, "After this, never again." _

_Robert nodded and kissed her cheek lightly._

_XXX_

Annalise sighed and signed her name quietly; remembering either one of her parents made her a bit depressed. She hoped to see them again one day, but for now, it was just her…

* * *

A/N: I put Tony as the main char because, for parts other than Annalise, it's revolved around him… Anyway, sorry for it being so short… Any ideas on what this "suspect" is? How will the protection detail go between Tony and Annalise occur? There's only one way to find out; keep on reading! I would really appreciate some reviews; I never had reviews for any of my stories, and I'm hoping this would be my big story! Please, please, please review if you have something nice to say! (I don't like flamers, so don't try it) Oh, and...

"xXx" means regular POV change...

"XxX" means scene change when they're together...

"xxx" means beginning of Anna's memory...

"XXX" means end of Anna's memory.


	3. Story 1, Chapter 3

**Story 1: Adopted**

**Chapter 3**

As Tony snapped himself out of his apparent trace, he looked over to Gibbs and remembered what he had said earlier. "Uhh… Yes, Boss," Tony smiled to Gibbs.

Gibbs started to step away, but not before he told Tony, "Well, get to it, then!"

Tony spun himself at least 90 degrees to answer, "Yes, Boss!" He left the dark, dimly-lighted room and walked to his left to the next door. He opened it to find Annalise with her rounded chin on her thin arms, sighing and close to falling asleep. She didn't look up when he opened the door; she only continued to stare at the metal table her arms were pressurized on.

She started to talk to herself while Tony was in the room, saying, "If only I had something better than this life I have…"

Trying to hear her phrase but unable to hear it at all, Tony slowly strolled to his guest and smiled. He then proceeded to walk to the chair in front of her to try and inform her of the protection details. But, as he dragged the chair to sit himself down, Anna was already asleep with her open diary under her right arm. Tony smiled; she looked somewhat at peace when she was asleep. He watched her quietly as her eyes and limbs started twitching; she was having a vividly real dream that lead to her waking up only a few minutes later. Annalise mumbled to Tony, "Somehow, I knew you were there…"

Tony tilted his head and joked, "So that's what you were dreaming about?"

Anna's eyelids lowered drowsily to a half-way point to glare at Tony, as if telepathically muttering "_Shut the hell up. You don't know what I f***in' dream about._"

Tony understood the look (it reminded him of the Gibbs stare), and kept his lips sealed for a few seconds before starting, "I'm assigned to protect you."

Annalise drowsily mumbled, "Why is that, Agent D?"

One of Tony's eyes twitched at the nickname that Anna gave him, but he shrugged it off. He continued, "It seems to be that the killer saw you witnessing the murder. So, we have to prevent anything bad from happening to you."

Annalise interrupted the rest of the paragraph, closing her eyes and grumbling, "Dude, everything bad happens to me. Why would I even try to care? Nobody ever helps me…"

Tony felt a band of guilt rush through his head, and his hand led itself to her left arm as he tried to finish, "We can help you, Annalise. We have to help you, anyway; the killer saw you. Or, at least an accomplice saw you when you weren't looking over there."

Annalise showed a look of confusion as her eyes kept a straight direction in Tony's green eyes. Her head slowly lifted up to her shoulder height as she asked him, "There was a second man?"

Tony slightly nodded.

"Damn it," Ann cursed to herself, facing the wall to her right as she did. She looked back to Tony and tilted her head in question, "How do you know?"

Tony lifted his other hand and pointed with his index finger to the wall behind the girl. "The guy we assume killed the man you saw," Tony explained, "Is in the room next to this one. They're interrogating him, and I just got info that there was another…"

"Another guy that was nearby that saw me," Anna finished, "Yeah, you told me that part earlier…"

Tony's mouth slightly opened, and he nodded slowly. "Well," Tony smiled, "How about that protection detail?"

Annalise sighed, somewhat relieved. "Finally, you get to that part," Anna sighed before grinning, "Tell me more."

And so the two had a long conversation about the protection detail, unaware that they were on their way to knowing each other a little bit more.

XxX

A few hours later, Tony was driving Annalise to an apartment close to the agency; this was their safe house to protect Annalise in case the accomplice went after her. When he pulled up to the apartment complex, he looked over to his right side and saw Annalise asleep in her seat. He nudged her softly, and as she stirred from her nap, he informed her, "We're here, Anne."

Annalise shook her head and looked at him, not fully awake yet. "Why do you have so many nicknames for me, Agent DiNozzo?" she asked him in a somewhat deep voice, drowsy.

Tony tilted his head once again and shrugged, "Not very sure, but your name always has smaller names on the inside."

Annalise glared at him lazily and shrugged after him, not knowing what else to reply. Tony got out of the car, followed by Annalise, as they trotted over to the front door of the complex. "Tony," Annalise asked him, looking up into his emerald eyes, "Is the apartment nice?"

Tony looked down, concentrating into Anna's chocolate eyes as he smiled, "Probably is! Only one way to find out, though…"

The two went through heavy glass doors and made their way up a few flights of stairs until they reached the 4th floor. They went a few feet until they reached a tan door with the number '410' on it. Tony swiped a card with the image of pizza on it and opened the door. The first thing that went through Annalise's mouth when she saw the room was, "Damn!"

The room, even though it was decorated with flower wallpaper, had a homely kind of feeling to it. The lightly colored beds were against the walls, away from the windows; the bathroom had its own white door next to the door entering the apartment; the walls themselves were colored a very light shade of salmon. Any normal person would think the room was strangely unattractive, but Annalise found herself attracted to the room.

"Wow, Mr. DiNozzo! This room is so cool!" Annalise enthusiastically smiled, observing the features of the room.

She was fond of the bed farthest from the door, so she ran from the doorway and jumped on it, diary in hand. Tony watched her carefully as she started to write in her diary, "Dear Diary, OMG! I'm starting to love life again! I'm being treated like I have parents when they really died… Anyway, Mr. DiNozzo is protecting me because they know someone else was involved with that murder I talked about earlier… Oh, if only my parents saw me now; solving crimes with other people!" Annalise tried to remember how her parents would react if they saw this.

_xxx_

_If it weren't for Annalise's love of writing today (and her mother's pressure), she would have never accepted her very first diary when she was three._

_"Mommy," a young Annalise whined, "I don't want to learn how to write!" The young mother made a scowling look at her daughter._

_"Honey," the mother scolded, "You HAVE to learn how to write! If not, how will you go to school?" The two ladies eyed each other; one shy, the other wanting the little kid to learn something._

_Annalise sighed, defeated, and whined, "Fine, but do I have to?" _

_"Yes," came the mother's reply._

_"But what do I write about, Mommy?"_

_The mother pondered through the question before replying, "Anything you want, dear. It's your book." _

_She handed the small girl the thick, blue book. As it slid in her small hands, her hands felt their way on the sides of the pages. They felt thin and unstable; however, when she opened the book, the pages were stable and unbent. She flipped through the pages to find only empty lines on each page. Looking in her mother's green eyes, she smiled. Her mother bent down to her level and smiled, "You know, if you were successful in anything you come across, we would always be proud of you, no matter what."_

_XXX_

Remembering those few words, Annalise's eyes started to swell with tears from her past. She couldn't have imagined that both her parents influenced her life, yet she took it for granted. She reached behind her for a fluffy pillow and cried into it. Tony, observing this, shuffled over to her bed and sat himself on it. He wrapped his arms around Annalise's shoulder, and she bent herself down and set her head on his lap, still crying in the pillow.

"Hey, Anna," Tony comforted as he ran his fingers through her curly knots, "It's alright. You're going to be okay, you will…"

She kept crying in that pillow for a few more minutes; she couldn't bear to watch herself suffer through life like she was. He grabbed her diary with his free hand and read it to himself; after reading the end, his eyes started to swell in guilt of not knowing what her past really was. He continued watching her cry for the rest of the night, not aware of what to say to her to make her feel better.

* * *

A/N: Thank you SO much, smush68, for my very first review of any story and for adding author alert! Also, thx to DS2010 for adding author alert! And thanks to the 83 hits and 59 visitors from the last two chapters! I hope you all enjoy this short chapter, and stay tuned for drama, action, and more of Tony and Annalise! And also for more of Annalise's past… Sorry for a short chapter; I PROMISE I will make a longer chapter! (with more stuff in it, of course!) Please keep reviewing; I would LOVE to know what you guys think! (I am also needing suggestions for next chapter... I only planned for chapter 5, and I need ideas for chapter 4 :P)


	4. Story 1, Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton, but I do own Annalise Marie Edwards, so please ask before using her...

* * *

**Story 1: Adopted**

**Chapter 4**

After Annalise cried herself to sleep, Tony sat on his bed. He was wondering what was going on in her head; after all, what could be the cause of her tears, stress, and agony? Just as he was about to fall asleep, a knock on the front door alerted him. He picked himself up and walked over to the door; he looked through the eyehole to spot Ziva standing outside. Smiling, he unlocked the front door and let her in. As she stepped through the front door, Tony asked her softly, "What are you doing here so late at night?"

Ziva, holding a bunch of blue books, replied as she shoved the books in his arms, "*We* are going to read."

Tony's eyes widened as he echoed the last word: "Read? We're going to *read*?"

Ziva softly chuckled, smiling her dastardly smile as she led him to his bed with two flashlights. Tony sat himself down on the bed, watching as Ziva was already reading the first book. Tony shined the flashlight on the cover and looked at the book in his hand; it was a blue book, but it had no title. As he opened up the book, flashlight still helping him read in the dark, he recognized Annalise's writing. He glanced at Ziva, who was occupied with one of the diaries, and shifted his concentration back on the diary he held in his hands. He quickly scanned through the writing until a few pages later.

From that, he read from the diary, "_This is somewhat hopeless. My parents were murdered for Pete's sake! But, I have to move on somehow. I don't know how I can move on, but I hope where I'm going to stay isn't as crappy as the adoption center… Lord help me and my good friends…_"

Tony wondered why she would write that in her diary, and flipped back a page. He looked to the left side of the book; this was the part of her life he wondered about: how her parents left her. He started to read, "_I can't believe this is happening. My parents were stabbed to death… While I hid and watched from behind a trash bin… Then the dude found me… And he slit my wrist before leaving me... I can't understand what kind of people would do this to me… I swear, if I ever find the man who did this to me, I'll KILL him and let him drown in his own blood! (I hope; I'm not that strong, and I don't have any knives or guns…) But, for now… Where will I go? What will I do? I can't possibly imagine where I have to be! I am an 11-year-old girl, so maybe someone can find me and take me to their home…_"

Tony, finally learning the source of her pain, stopped reading from there. '_So is that how her parents died? Through murder?_' he questioned to himself in his thoughts. He then looked back to the sleeping Annalise, wondering what was floating around her mind at the moment. He realized the diary he was holding was still open to the page; he felt the page's condition and found dry water on parts of the page. '_So she was crying while she wrote it…_'

xXx

_In Annalise's head, she was floating on top of a 90-feet-tall building. She was ready to jump off, but she could hear Tony's spirit (in her head, once again) yell, 'Don't do it!' She turned to him, back facing the open and feet on the ledge, and frowned, 'I'm sorry.' She then leaned backwards and fell off of the tall building._

Annalise's eyes opened immediately after that dream. It felt like her soul fell back into her body when she fell; that dream always told her that something was happening. Surely enough, she turned to her side and saw two agents instead of just Tony; from the looks of it, it was one of Tony's friends. They were sitting next to each other on Tony's bed, reading some blue books… Annalise closed her eyes again and tried to fall back to sleep until she realized that those 'blue books' were actually her diaries! She forcefully opened her eyes and looked at them again. She thought to herself, '_Maybe they're trying to figure out my life…_'

She closed her eyes again, feeling that someone would notice she wasn't asleep, and opened them again once that feeling passed. "_What is he wondering?_" Annalise whispered to herself as she slowly started to get up to make no sound. She slowly stepped off the bed and tip-toed to Tony's bed. She peeked behind his back and saw his fingers run on the page.

'_He must've noticed,_' Annalise's voice rang through her head with the idea. Her head went next to his, and she whispered in explanation, "_The guy found me cowering behind the trash bin… That's why he slit my wrists… But I don't understand why he didn't kill me like he killed my parents…_"

Tony's head nearly hit hers as he tried to turn. Luckily, she got off of his back and she kneeled on his bed before he hit her head. After he turned and saw her, he asked, whispering, "_What are you doing up?_"

Annalise sighed, frowning, and explained, "_I had a dream that woke me up… I saw you and your friend reading my diaries… So I decided to read what you were… But I saw that you were somewhat confused…_"

Tony also sighed, but he smiled and hummed, "_Don't worry; you're going to be fine… As long as someone helps you out, right?_"

Annalise smiled and nodded.

Tony then said in a somewhat normal voice, "Why not go back to bed?"

Annalise shook her head in a neutral expression, explaining, "I want to stay awake…"

Tony shrugged and nodded in defeat, "Fine, but stay away from the window…"

Annalise sighed in disappointment, hoping to watch the world at night; sensing the disappointment, Tony sighed. He then had an idea. "Anna," he suggested, "Why not go to the roof?"

Annalise tiled her head, but then Tony grabbed her arm and led her off of the bed. He walked to the door while Ziva watched, curious. Without knowing where they were going, she got off the bed as well and followed them.

Tony and Annalise entered the elevator a few minutes later; that was when they realized that Ziva was going with them. "You forgot your room key, Tony," she reminded him, holding the key before entering the elevator with them. As soon as the elevator door closed, Tony thanked Ziva and took the key from her.

Other than that, it was silent for a minute before Tony said, "You know, Zi, we make a good team together."

Ziva faced Tony, Annalise moving to a corner, as she smiled, "You have said that many times before, Tony."

Tony chuckled in reply, "Of course I have!"

He then stopped chuckling and smiled, "Because you know it's true."

Ziva smiled back and chuckled softly herself, "You believe it is true, Tony."

"Because it is," Tony smiled.

Annalise merely made a baroo (dog tilting head) at them; they reminded her of a married couple. She quietly smiled to herself and heard them say things like "Why would you even consider following us?" (asked by Tony), "Do you really care to know why I followed you two?" (asked by Ziva), and "You know, I'm sorry…" (apologized by both). Annalise smiled at the last sentence and watched Tony and Ziva flirt to each other once again. Annalise rolled her eyes, but stopped halfway when she thought about her cute guy. She sighed to herself before looking ahead once again, waiting for that ding to ring through the space. When it did a few seconds later, they were on the very top floor, but not on the roof.

"How are we going to get up there, Mr. DiNozzo?" Annalise looked up and asked Tony.

Ziva smirked to him, and Tony replied, "There are stairs somewhere around here…"

He looked around the floor, being followed by Annalise and Ziva, before he found it at the end of the hall. "Okay, girls," he informed, "Going up!"

He ran up the stairs, with Ziva and Annalise (she was slower than the two) at his tail.

When they got to the rooftop, Annalise was amazed at the sight; the moon was full, and the surrounding clouds had the naturally white light shining around the edges, making them seem from a cartoon show. She loved watching cartoon shows back then, and it took her back to her cartoon-watching youth.

"Woow…" she sighed, smiling in delight.

Tony smiled, knowing she was in a state of enjoyment, and he asked with a grin, "Like it?"

Annalise nodded with a wide grin wiping across her face. She then looked out into the dark horizon and noticed a piano sitting on the rooftop; she took out her diary (she kept it in her back pocket) and started to sketch the piano on the roof to remind herself to visit it sometime. Tony and Ziva stood next to each other as Annalise approached the piano; she didn't go very close to it, but she did go close enough to see that the piano's color was dark brown. She turned around, smiling to Tony and Ziva, as she led the two back down the stairs and down to their room.

XxX

The next night, while Ziva and Tony were on Tony's bed in the safe room, Annalise was on the roof again. Of course, knowing that she had lied to them about taking a short nightly stroll with Agent McGee, she would have to make it pretty quick. But, she had lost track of time as she felt the bumpy pattern on the heavy piano; she was so interested in playing it, and she wondered if it belonged to anyone. Out of any sort of questions she had, she sat down on the soft little seat in front of the piano and softly touched the key closest to her; it felt cold and neglected by its owner.

"I wonder if I can still play something on it…?" Annalise wondered to herself as she sat with her body facing forward in front of the piano's keys. She slowly started to play to familiarize herself with the piano before she really started to play something. It was a song she really liked as a young piano player (yes, she used to play piano when she was little), and she had forgotten how to play it for the last few years. Playing the intro to "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton, her fingers flew on the piano, tapping each correct note to the song. Knowing the song by heart, she sang in her soft, delicate voice.

_Making' my way downtown, walking fast_

_Faces pass and I'm home now._

Annalise's fingers continued to tap each fast note, as if she was typing a fast poem, as she continued to sing.

_Staring blankly ahead, just making my way_

_Making my way through the crowd_

The thin fingers fluttered on the keys, but for a certain part, she stopped and snapped with her thumb and index finger, continuing to sing.

_And I need you_

_And I miss you_

_And now I wonder_

Her fingers tapped on the right keys on the piano, playing the main melody of her favorite song.

_If I could fall_

_Into the sky_

_Do you think time_

_Would pass me by?_

'_Cause you know_

_I'd walk a thousand miles_

_If I could just_

_See you_

She stopped playing and sang the last phrase of the chorus, "_Tonight._"

She kept playing the song on her piano, and after a few seconds, she was interrupted when Tony tapped her shoulder. Her fingers came to an abrupt halt on some keys as Tony asked, "What are you doing?"

Annalise looked behind her and cheekily smiled, "Uhh… Practicing?"

Tony looked at the piano her fingers touched delicately and smiled, "Well, you sounded good."

Annalise smiled, "Thanks," and looked up at the bright moon.

Tony followed, grinning widely as he commented, "The moon sure is pretty…"

Annalise nodded in reply, then looked back at her supervising agent. "Can we go back to the room?" Annalise asked him.

Tony smiled and nodded once, slightly wrapping an arm around her left arm to lead her to the room.

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A/N: Sorry it took me SO long to update! But I fulfilled my promise; PLEASE review! If you do, I'll send you a piece of telepathic marble cake…

What'll happen next? Will this story take a turn for the worse for Annalise? Will Tony ever adopt her? Will Ziva start dating Tony? The only way to find out is to keep reading!


	5. Story 1, Chapter 5

**Story 1: Adopted**

**Chapter 5**

"Oh," Annalise wondered to herself when she and Tony made it back to the room, "How did he know where I was? Why did he come after me?"

Tony, with Ziva nearby, overheard Annalise's "thoughts" and looked at her while she sat on her bed. Tony explained in simple terms, "You left your diary open."

In his hand, the blue diary was open to the page with the sketch of the piano. Anna grinned sheepishly, not knowing that the diary was open to that page no her bed. Her look then turned serious as she sighed, "I'm terrible, aren't I?"

Tony sat down on her bed by her side and rubbed her back with his hand. "Don't be so negative," he reassured in a comforting tone, "You're not as terrible as you think you are. You're just the opposite; you're probably a really good kid on the inside."

Annalise looked at him, her face still the serious tone, and he smiled with the same tone, "Anyway, you'll get adopted soon. Trust me, someone wants you."

Annalise broke into a tiny smile and looked at Tony. Her eyes started to swell up in joy and gladness, and she hugged him tightly, "Thank you so much, Mr. DiNozzo." Surprised by her reaction, Tony's arms hung at his side; after a few seconds, he lifted them up and hugged Annalise back.

XxX

Ziva and Tony were in a good conversation in a closet later as Annalise overheard them and started to write in her diary about the day's events. "_I wish I knew WHAT I would write about other than the day…_" So, she made a decision: "I'm going to do a little play…" She started writing in script format, making up characters and coming up with plots, as the play described how her day went. It also included how the main character, Jasmine Cooperwood, had always wanted to go to an arcade and play arcade games like Pac-man and Donkey Kong. Jasmine reminded Annalise of herself; they shared similar pasts, and they felt the same way about losing their parents. Annalise felt guilty for making her character a lot like her, but it was good for her so she wouldn't come up with crazy ideas for a past…

xXx

"Zi," Tony decided to ask Ziva in their conversation in the small closet, "What should I do?"

Ziva looked puzzled. "About what?" she asked him.

Tony answered sincerely, looking down as he explained, "Well, I was thinking about keeping Annalise, but I don't know what I should do or when I should do it…"

"Do not worry, Tony. You will succeed someday…"

"But… Will she find out soon? How will my home be a good place for her?"

"Tony," Ziva comforted in a soft tone, "It is going to be okay. You do not have to worry about it for now. Right now, we can only worry about protecting her, okay?"

Tony sighed and looked into Ziva's light emerald eyes. "Thanks, Zi."

Ziva nodded, "You are very welcome," and smiled at him. Tony closed his eyes and (sort of) hugged her. Ziva felt a bit awkward, but hugged him back. A few moments later, they pulled away from each other, still grinning a small grin. They both poked their heads past the doorway and saw Annalise writing her hand off. They reentered the closet, and Tony noted, "She really does write a lot…" Ziva only nodded to him as her answer. They found themselves staring into each other's eyes from a very close proximity, but they didn't move or do anything as they did. Only awkward silence followed the two as time passed while they looked at each other.

XxX

"Hey, Annie," Tony smiled an hour later, waving his hand to Annalise, "You want to take a walk?"

Annalise blankly stared at him for a few seconds before realizing he asked her a question. "Oh," she answered, "Uhh… Sure." She found herself struggling to approach the agent, but she solved her footing and followed him outside.

While they walked, Tony asked, "How long has it been since you lost everything?" He feared she would react negatively to the question, but her reaction shocked him.

"Well," she answered to his surprise, "It's been a while… Being in the system made me forget how long it's been…"

"Have you ever wondered?" Tony asked, unable to control himself into stopping.

Sensing the internal struggle, Annalise smiled, "It's okay," before answering, "Sometimes I do wonder. I even wonder if those weren't my real parents… I mean, if those weren't my parents… Maybe I wouldn't stay in the adoption sequence, watching every friend I made there come and go…"

Tony strangely established himself in an array of memories he told Anna. "Well," he recalled, "My mom died when I was younger… Younger than you, that's for sure. I always watched as my dad married other women and such…"

Annalise, finding herself nodding to the story, asked curiously, "Sometimes, don't you wonder what life would've been like if your mom was still alive?"

Tony grinned and joked, looking at Annalise, "I wouldn't have been the ladies' man I am now, wouldn't I?"

Annalise nodded with a toothy grin.

Tony then smiled to Annalise, inviting, "You want to go to a diner to get a sandwich?"

Annalise nodded, but frowned when she felt a hand grab hers. A shadowy figure pulled Anna away from Tony as she yelled, "Help!"

Tony ran over to help, but was put to a halt when a metallic object struck his back. Annalise, watching this, screamed, but it was muffled by a gloved hand and a cloth. As she struggled and tried to scream, her mind went into sudden haze. She thought, '_Shit, chloroform,_' and the last thing she saw was Ziva running out of the front door, cell phone in hand calling Gibbs, and calling out to Tony. Her mind went into reluctant sleep, mentally crying for help and mercy.

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A/N: NOW I post the chapter XP But it's been a real busy time, and I hope you guys were kind of expecting the ending of this chapter :P Anyway, please review, and I might post moar chapters XD


	6. Story 1, Chapter 6

**Story 1: Adopted**

**Chapter 6**

It's been a few months since Annalise was kidnapped. In the first month, the team never stopped  
searching; however, their search turned up empty. The case turned cold after awhile, but to Tony, it was still  
warm. Ziva and McGee would comfort him when he was upset at himself, telling Tony that it wasn't his fault. He would argue otherwise, saying that he didn't watch his six to see the perpetrator. It was unknown to anyone where Annalise was, but Tony was looking forward to knowing where she could be.

XxX

Meanwhile, in these months, Annalise always wondered where anyone could be. No signs of life would visit her and talk to her, so she would go crazy and talk to herself. She was lucky with the diary; she had stashed it in her pocket before she passed out, and nobody found it in there. Each day, she would write a page about how miserable she was, and how the place reminded her of the isolation room in a prison. "In fact," she would write, "It's so miserable to me that nobody could hear me talk to myself." She would sit in the chair she had to sit in and write all day about her thoughts and hopes. Sometimes, she would write about rebellion and escape, writing, "Oh, if only I were strong enough to break the ropes that bound me to my death chair! Then, I would be able to go back to life before this happened." She would sigh after writing that, thinking about any hopes at the same time. Once in a while, she would visit Tony in his dreams, telling him how miserable life was without anyone around. In her dreams, he would usually hug her and tell her that everything would be okay, and she would deny that each time. She still felt herself fall back once in a while, like the dream she had about falling off of the roof a few months back. She also felt a bit stronger when she was tied to the ropes, attempting to break free every day with no luck; but, she got it looser each time she tried. Nobody came around to check if the ropes were tight or not, so she thought that before her birthday, she would be freed. She also noticed the window above her; on nights of the full moon, she wished that the Heavens would give Tony a clue of where she could be, or to free her so she could find him herself. She normally slept in the chair, feeling bad about her back, and hoped that she would never leave her dreams.

xXx

"Tony," Ziva went up to the senior agent's desk and nudged his arm one evening.

Tony looked up from what he was doing and asked Ziva, "Yes? What is it?"

Ziva looked to him sternly. "Look at what I got." She handed him a paper, and she explained, "I don't know who sent it to me, but I know one thing's for sure: Annalise is still alive."

Tony's eyes were glued on the paper, not bothering to hear Ziva's explanation. He read what was on the paper and asked Ziva, "When did you get this?"

Ziva shrugged and answered, "Well, I got it just now. Why?"

Tony got up from his rolling chair and left the room in a hurry, putting the paper down on his desk. He passed McGee, who looked behind him and saw Tony shuffle to the elevator. He looked at Ziva and questioned, "What's with Tony?"

Ziva simply pointed to the sheet. McGee picked it up and read aloud:

_To whom it may concern:_

_The little girl you have been trying to find for the past 4 months is safe. I have no clue of whereabouts, but I do know that she is in the D.C. area. She is alone, without any company to harm or comfort her. You must find her in the next 9 hours, or else the mob that kidnapped her will nonetheless kill her._

McGee's questionable look turned serious. "This is bad," he said to Ziva while she nodded. He asked her about where she got it from, and after a little bit, he was on his way to tracking down the IP address of the sender.

xXx

Tony drove down the streets of DC with the most concerning expression on his face. He knew he was genuinely worried about her safety, but he didn't want her to be killed off all of a sudden. He stared at the streets ahead of him and pondered about her location. "The email said that she was alone… Nobody came for her… So it could mean that's an isolated area, outside where the general public usually goes… Let's try there, first." He stomped his foot on the gas and drove to the outskirts, trying to find a place that would fit his description.

XxX

"Wow," Annalise said to herself, "This is boring." She squirmed in the wooden seat and struggled to loosen the ropes a bit more. After a few minutes, she gave up; it was no use using up all of her strength to loosen a rope. She sat there, quietly, as she closed her eyes and shifted her focus to her hearing. She breathed silently so she wouldn't create false hope, and she made sure she was sitting erect. After a while of doing this, she could hear the wind outside, rustling the trees around it. She heard the grass whistle their song faintly, and she could even hear the clouds move, as impossible as that sounds. The leaves fell into the grassland, the small animals scurried about, and the plastic bags took flight and got caught in the red and yellow-colored branches. Annalise could've sighed, but then she wouldn't hear the song of nature at night. The song was discontinued when she heard a car pass by; she opened her eyes and thought she had heard too much. However, she didn't as the car drove in the driveway and stopped inside it. "Shit, they're coming!" Annalise realized to herself, immediately trying to find a way to retighten the ropes. She couldn't succeed, though; when she heard the doors burst open, she was too loose for them not to notice. Her eyes sealed shut as the door of the room she was in was burst open, but she immediately reopened them after a familiar voice called out.

xXx

Just before Annalise was found, Tony was driving on the outskirts of town when he almost ran over a deer. "CRAP!" he yelled out as he swerved to avoid the doe. That was when his headlights spotted a building up ahead of him. When he regained control of the car, he drove by curiously. The place seems to have the right description, Tony thought to himself, and nobody normally passes by there… He found a driveway to park and immediately entered it; it seemed like nobody parked there for months on end… He got out of the car and locked it before he knocked on the door. He decided not to say anything, thinking nobody was home, and he kicked down the locked door. He then searched around, finding nothing but another door. He shrugged a bit before kicking down the next door. His reaction was shock and relief as he called the name out: "Annalise?"

XxX

Annalise opened her eyes and saw Tony standing with his gun drawn near the door. "Agent DiNozzo?" she smiled, hoping it wasn't a dream. She squirmed some more, trying harder to get free; Tony, noticing the struggle, took out his knife and went up to her. He cut the rope from her legs and waist, saying, "Here, let me help you with that." A smile escaped from both of them as Tony helped Annalise from her small prison. She tried to stand on her own, but she collapsed on her first step. "Okay, come on," Tony wrapped his arms under her shoulders and picked her up. She got to her feet with his help, and together, they walked outside.

They went next to the car, and Tony opened the backseat door and eased her in. "You okay?" he asked after he put on her seatbelt.

"Yeah," Anna replied, "I'm fine…"

Tony slipped in the front seat and started the car. He started driving out of the driveway when suddenly Annalise saw something outside the back window. "Uh, Agent D?" Ann asked, "May I say 'run' now?"

Tony turned to look at her, but as he turned, he saw what she was observing. A group of men, one about 6'1" and the others about 5'8" were approaching the building. "No way we're running," Tony replied after much thought, "In fact, we're taking a new route." He went back in the driveway and started driving through the tall golden grass. While they drove in there, the men started firing their guns at them. "DUCK!" Tony yelled to Annalise, which immediately acted by burying her head in the seat next to her. Tony ducked while driving, too, hoping that he would make it out alive. He drove the way Gibbs would drive: fast, dangerous, and with a look of "get outta my way". He was sure he would make it out of this one without any harm done.

A little bit up ahead, they found a road. Tony drove on it as quickly as possible and drove back to DC, but he wasn't paying attention to what danger lied ahead. Annalise was the first to notice the truck heading towards them, and she was the one who recognized the armed men through the neon headlights. "TONY!" Annalise yelled before reaching forward with all of her strength and grabbing the steering wheel. She turned the car to the side of the road again, barely missing the truck. Ann sighed before she slumped back against the seat once more, glad that they were still alive. Though, she was worried about Tony, and she looked back every few seconds, watching for any followers or stalkers.

xXx

When they got back to the agency, Tony led Annalise to the elevator and smiled to her, "I'm going to surprise everyone with the fact you're here, okay?"

Annalise nodded to him, "Sure. I'll just slink in a corner and wait for the cue…"

Tony grinned to her as the elevator got to his floor. His head poked out the door, and he waved, "Ziva, McBusy Bee! Get over here; I have something to show you!"

Ziva and McGee stared at him blankly, but trotted over to the elevator anyway. Their expressions lit up like plugged-in Christmas lights when they saw Annalise.

"Anna? Is that you?" Ziva smiled and approached her cautiously. She went in front of her and stared into her chocolate eyes for a while before she hugged the girl, "I'm so glad you're okay."

Annalise's face scrunched a little bit, thinking about the guys that went after them. When the hug between her and Ziva broke, the agents noticed the look on her face. McGee searched for a relief in her face, but there was none offered. "What's wrong, Annalise?" McGee frowned, thinking it was a personal issue.

Without Anna even attempting to pipe a word, Tony answered, "There were these guys after us, and she thinks they're trying to kill us." Annalise nodded with that phrase.

"Are you kidding us, Tony?" Ziva spun to face him and locked a serious tone on him, "You two could get killed! Did they keep following you two after that?"

Both Tony and Annalise shook their heads at the same time.

McGee relieved the frown into a neutral stance and asked, "Where did you last see them?"

Tony and Ann had no idea how to answer to that question. However, when they got off of the elevator a few minutes later, Annalise randomly worded, "Countryside, tall yellow grass, wild animals, concrete building with two rooms made of concrete, window on the roof of one of them."

"So how do you put that into a complete thought?" Tony joked, smiling, but became serious again after eyeing each of the agent's faces.

Completely ignoring Tony's comment, McGee repeated what Anna had said and smiled, "Don't worry. You may have just ratted out someone's hide-out."

"But I didn't want to do that…" Annalise whined before shrugging the whine away; it wasn't her fault that she was held in their hideaway, she knew. When she remembered there was someone missing, she thought aloud, "Hey, I wonder where Agent Gibbs is right now…"

The three agents interrupted their work with glances from one another. Tony was the first to break the silence, "She's right; where is Gibbs?"

Ziva's shoulders rose while McGee looked around. "I don't see him here," he said with an estranged tone.

All of a sudden, he appeared behind Tony. "You found her, huh?" was the first line of his entrance. Everyone's eyes trailed to the boss as grins erupted from their lips.

"Yep, she's back," Tony said to him, grinning the loudest grin.

"Tony saved her," Ziva explained to him.

McGee went off-topic by realizing, "Hey, isn't it her birthday tomorrow?"

All visions suddenly flooded to Annalise. "Whoops," she blushed, "Forgot to tell you that…"

Each expression of sheepishness turned into excitedness. "Oh, sweet!" "How old will you be?" "Is there a party involved?"

Annalise nodded and shook her head at each question that flowed through the air. "I'm going to be 15, finally…" She mumbled as a response, which Tony heard.

"Hey, she'll be 15!" Tony shouted ecstatically. He was the most excited of the group, and he blazoned the fact aloud to everyone in the building.

Annalise somewhat covered her ears so she wouldn't feel embarrassed by what Tony was doing, but she found herself smiling in the end. 'It is my birthday, after all,' she thought, looking at the clock and noting that it was midnight.

Before anyone could discover the time, everyone told Anna to get herself ready for her birthday. She nodded in agreement and grinned. Tony took her by the shoulder and smiled to her, "Let's go home."

* * *

(A/C: Wow, took me long to update! So buy with work and stuff… Well, that's the end of story #1! What will happen on her birthday? Stay tuned for the first short story!)


	7. Story 2, Chapter 1

Synopsis: More than a year after Annalise's rescue, Anna carries forward with the handy protection of Tony. When a new case displays evidence that links this murder to Annalise's kidnapping, though, will there finally be closure? And when the kidnappers show themselves around Annalise and her new friends, will there be new dangers ahead?

A/C: UGH, this took so long... I had to deal with a whole lot of stuff. I thank the people who have reviewed and read Diary Girl and my other stories as well :3 Okay, I really hope you guys like this story; I apologize that this first chapter drags on...

* * *

**Story 2: Bouncing Back**

**Chapter 1: Figure It Out**

_Dear Diary,_

_You do remember me, right? It's been a while since I last publically wrote in my diary. You know me well as Annalise Marie Edwards, but my name might be Annalise DiNozzo pretty soon. Anyway, how are you doing? It's been more than a year, and the team has been really trying to catch the guys who kidnapped me... In the meanwhile, I've been trying to adjust to normal life... Oh, normal life. I don't like it too much because I have to deal with... well, everything. At least Mr. DiNozzo has been taking care of me this whole time. He brings me to work when I'm not in school (and even when I'm sick), and he literally makes me go to school when I'm supposed to go. It's a good thing he's making me go, really; because of him, I made a few friends... A few meaning a lot, really. The first person I met in my new school was this girl named Marilynn Bonn; she's a tall girl, standing at about 5'5", and she's an albino. She has these baby blue-colored corneas and red irises (Impossible, right? But it's true. I've seen it), but they're usually hidden away by these big aviator glasses. She loves music, especially what she calls "sick beats", so I usually see her with headphones. I also met a boy named Tanner Topher; he is probably the silliest guy ever, even though he's older than me. He's kind of cute, I have to admit... At 6'1", he's not growing any bigger; he has scoliosis with a 35-degree bend on his spine. It almost makes me feel bad for him, but then again I wear a ten-pound backpack everywhere. I met this couple around the same time I met Tanner; they've been together for more than a month now, and I can tell they really feel affectionate for each other. Alma Neil and Monroe Gondola are their names, and hanging out with each other is their game. Cute, right? They've known each other for the entire last year before Monroe asked Alma to date him. He even asked her through Facebook! The whole thing with them is extremely adorable; I do hope they stay together for a long time... Alma looks a lot like me, except she has a lighter skin tone and straight hair with "a blonde spot" in it, as she claimed; Monroe is a few inches taller than her, and has jet black hair and a thin moustache. He's REALLY pale, though. When I first saw him, I thought he was an albino too! But then he said that he wasn't... Anyway, I met a lot more people, including someone that I call "Pedo", but I'll get to that later. Right now, I_ _guess I'll sign off__ here._

"Annalise!"

The curly-haired girl looked up as she heard a masculine voice calling to her. She recognized it all too well; it was her guardian, NCIS Special Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo, Jr. How did she remember all of that? She primarily remembered Tony DiNozzo, NCIS. She shifted back to focus as she called back, "I'm coming! Hold your horses!"

She signed quickly on the bottom of the page, "Yours truly, Annalise" before she closed her big blue book and lugged it with her out of the Navy blue room. She placed her new blue pen over her ear before she ran down a hallway until she met up with her tall guardian. She took note of his messy hair style as he frowned, "You don't look ready for school today."

"Oh, whoops." He held out his arms so he could carry Annalise's diary as she ran back to the room. He waited there for a while before she came back with a light blue backpack on her back. It was thick, fat, and made Anna slouch a little. She smiled, "Okay, I made it."

"Good," Tony grinned back, holding up car keys in his right hand, "then let's go."

XxX

Watching the other cars drive by them and the buildings standing behind them as they passed them, Anna and Tony were silently sitting in the car, Tony driving Anna to school. No words were exchanged during this trip; this lack of vocal exchange was actually normal from day-to-day. Annalise usually sat silently with her heavy backpack on her lap as Tony looked at the road ahead, lost in thought. He was still trying to become adjusted to being a guardian to her, Anna believed. She would just sit and watch the cars pass by as Tony drove her to school.

Getting there, of course, wasn't the issue. It was the time they got there that mattered. Anna checked her blue watch and saw that it was 6:15. They were approaching the block before the school was in sight, and Anna smiled. '_We're early. Good,_' she thought excitedly. She liked being at school early; it gave her time to do things she forgot to do or to just stand by herself near her first class of the day. Tony knew this all too well, so he allowed it. As long as she carried a flashlight, he knew, she would be fine. He still worried since the guys who kidnapped her were still out there, everyone knew. Everyone, even Annalise's friends, knew Tony's concerns, which was why many looked out for Anna. Mornings were her most vulnerable time of day, though, since no other students were around as early as she was.

Arriving at school, Annalise picked up her backpack and waved her goodbye to Tony for the hours. Tony looked at her and asked, "1:50, right?"

The 5'4" girl nodded in confirmation, "1:50. That's when I leave my last class."

The two nodded simultaneously once more, and Tony smiled, "Well, see you at 1:50 then."

"See you then, Agent D." She threw her backpack over her shoulder and waved once again to Tony before she entered the front door of the school, walking up concrete steps and throwing open a heavy glass door before walking on the stone ground of the hallways.

xXx

To Tony, the hardest part of his day was letting Annalise go to school as early as she does. He knew she was stubborn, and she was an independent teenager, so why would he try to argue? The best he could do was give her a decision of her own. She decided that punctuality was the most important thing, and not safety. So he ran along with it as long as she was okay. He still feared that someone could be waiting, watching Annalise in her most vulnerable hour. He usually thought about Annalise's safety as he drove to the NCIS building, and he wore a concerned look every day now as he entered the building. Would they ever find the guys who left Annalise for dead that fateful day? The ones who grabbed Anna off the street and put her in a building for 4 months? He shuddered as he thought about it. The building that the team staked out for a few months was abandoned, and nobody else returned to the building after Annalise was rescued. They also investigated the truck that the men were last seen; it turned out to be stolen, but the men abandoned the truck in the outskirts of Norfolk later on. Sighing, Tony tried to put himself in a better mood by going to his desk and crumbling up paper. Smiling like a little child with the idea that he had, he started targeting the paper ball at Ziva's trash can.

"Come on..." He crumpled up more paper and tried to aim in the middle of Ziva's wastebasket. He hit the rim every time until he paused before he shot. That time, he made it in. "Boo-yeah!" He cheered, throwing his fists in the air, "Score one for DiNozzo!" He smiled, showing his teeth, before he heard someone's throat being cleared. He looked around and saw Ziva leaning against the wall next to her desk.

"Having fun, I see." Ziva chuckled a little bit before she continued, "Next time, try not to aim at my basket. There are many others to aim for."

Tony grinned slyly, "Well, your basket is the most fun to aim at!"

"And why is that?"

"Because..." Tony paused and placed his hand on his chin in thought. He looked at the basket and moved his eyes towards Ziva's face again. "Because it's tougher to hit in the basket."

Ziva laughed, her long brown hair dangling in front of her emerald eyes before she smirked, "I purposely obscured the basket so you would not hit it."

"Oh, right." Tony had his doubts, Ziva's claim of hiding the basket being one of them. He doubted most things now, but he felt it was normal. Guarding Annalise-hell, adopting her-was difficult at times, but he managed; he just needed to start relaxing.

So the rest of the morning carried forward, with McGee being fashionably late (again) and a new case for the team to solve. The team mainly tried to help Tony focus on work more than catching the guys who kidnapped Annalise; any evidence that they could find that could help identify the men would be enough to catch them, and they hoped to find some soon.

xXx

Going to school was almost fun for Annalise. If learning wasn't giving her so many headaches, she could probably go to school on the weekends as well. Juggling Anatomy class and Forensics class was easy as pie; Ducky agreed to help Ann with Anatomy when she was having trouble remembering things, and Abby enthusiastically agreed to help her with anything, even class reviews for Forensics. Abby even wanted to help Anna with any confusion, especially in the fingerprint chapter. She struggled a little with her English class, but Tony was willing to help her stay on track with the subject. History... Well, she liked the subject... It's just that her teacher was more intimidating than Gibbs. The essays in her History class were also difficult to write, since there was a certain format she had to follow, and she usually followed it incorrectly. Pre-Calculus was sort of a drag to her, but she really liked her teacher; French, on the other hand, was too easy for her, especially since she had Ziva to help her out. Why would they help her? Maybe because they cared, or maybe because she also helped them with anything they might've missed.

She thought about that as she set her backpack on the ground, reaching her normal spot near her first class of the day. She went into a small pocket of her backpack and took out a dark blue flashlight before she went into a bigger pocket and took out her diary and her pen. "Agent D... I swear, you need to stop putting my pen in the giant pocket. ...Well, at least you saved it. Thank you." Sighing, she set down the diary on top of a solid ledge, and she clicked her pen and her flashlight, each one in a different hand. She opened her diary to a blank page and started writing, "Dear Diary, I'm at school again. I'm usually the only person in this certain building to arrive at 6:15. Blah! It gets really lonely here, but I manage." She was about to write more when she felt a hand on her back, causing her to jump and drop the pen in the diary. The diary closed by itself, chomping on the pen inside, as Anna turned around to see who scared her.

"Why hello there, Anna." It was dark, but Annalise could still recognize the voice.

"Alma."

The two girls eyed each other in silence before Alma moved into Anna's light. Then, Alma threw her arms around Annalise, and they laughed with each other.

"I forgot you came here early!" Alma smiled when they calmed down. Anna nodded likewise, and Alma let go of Anna. She tiled her head as she tried to read Anna's thoughts. "You're wondering why I came early and came here, right?"

Anna nodded. "I thought you'd be with your boyfriend. Where is he?"

"Oh, that lucky bastard..." Alma called him a bastard as a joke. It was an inside thing, Anna knew. "Oh, he gets to sleep in... Well, not really." She looked up and thought before she looked back to Anna and finished, "He usually sleeps for a while longer, and he comes in two minutes before our first class starts."

Anna nodded, "He is lucky. He sleeps in AND he has you."

Anna watched as Alma turned red and developed a sudden interest in her shoelaces. "Hey, look at this beetle-looking thing on the ground."

"Hey!" Anna snapped her fingers, trying to get Alma's attention again. "Don't try to change the subject on me! You know I hate topic-jumping." She pointed her flashlight at the ground, "And there is no beetle on the ground."

Alma was just about to respond when the two heard a masculine voice calling to them, "Hey! You guys! You up there?!"

The two looked down and recognized the face with the voice. Anna was somewhat neutral with this male, but Alma... she was in love with it.

"Monroe!" Alma waved energetically to the figure down below them. They were lucky they were on the campus; if they were in the halls now, Alma would probably get in trouble for yelling so loud.

Alma turned to Anna as she just waved to Monroe. Monroe waved back, waving with his free hand while holding a rose bouquet with the other. "Alma, come on!" He yelled again, and Alma went to eye him.

"Hold on, okay?" She smiled and faced Anna, who was just glaring down now.

Anna was glaring down at nothingness; thoughts suddenly struck her, but they were too disorganized to be clear. She lost them, though, when she was suddenly pinned against the wall. "OOF!" The air was blown out of her as she crashed against the wall, and she gave her assailant the evil eye. "Alma, seriously?"

Alma let go of her grip on Anna and looked down sheepishly. "My bad." She looked back up and smiled to Anna, though, "I'll see you later, then!"

Anna watched as Alma started a sprint down the two flights of stairs and into Monroe's arms. Anna had no idea how Alma managed to "glomp" people like that; everyone already said that she could be a football star, but Anna didn't believe it until now. "No wonder..." She watched as the two kissed each other's lips softly before locking hands. She watched as Monroe gave Alma the rose bouquet, and Alma embraced him in a hug. Anna decided to stop watching after that; their public displays of affection were a bit much for her, so she would rather keep writing in her diary than even try to think about PDAs. That was exactly what she did; she opened her diary again and started writing in it once more. "Well, diary... I was interrupted by Alma, but that's alright. She just left; Monroe decided to swing by and pick her up... I don't know where they're going, but I hope they don't go in the elevators... Blugh. My friend Kate told me that some teens had sex in the school elevators. It makes me shudder just thinking about that, especially since the poor crippled kids have to ride the elevators every day... Speaking of cripples, have I ever told you about my friend Cole Mason? He's-"

Anna was interrupted again when she felt fingers poking at her sides. She jumped and turned around, this time making her flashlight turn with her. Her shoulders dropped as she saw the familiar face. "Cole!"

Cole was easily recognized; he was two inches taller than Annalise, and he was one of the few people she knew who had glasses that changed shade with the sun. He also had an oval head, plumper lips than Monroe, and green apple-colored eyes. He also had a way of respect towards the rest of their group; the guys in their group may have hated each other, but he kept them glued to the group. Hell, he even led the girls to the group when Monroe wasn't around to take Alma with him for lunch. Cole mainly kept Anna in his sights, she figured, because he mainly talked to her about anything.

Anna gave him a look that implied "what was that?" while he started laughing. Cole smiled, "I couldn't see your face, but I can tell that you got scared."

There was the feeling of wanting to slap this boy across the face, but she didn't; instead, she punched him softly on the arm. "Try not to scare me, please. I already got scared once today..."

There was the boyish laugh Anna could hear coming from Cole. "Yeah, I didn't know that. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna scare you again, though." Anna could see him wink as he said that, and she slightly rolled her eyes. She pointed her flashlight downward and tilted her head as she saw the brace on his foot again. "You're wondering what happened, aren't you?"

Anna nodded, and he decided to explain. "I was running again. You know I can't run because I hurt my ankle every time I run. I took another wrong step and fell back down."

"Ouch..." She winced a bit as she heard his story. "First, it was the ingrown toenail. Then, you needed crutches... And now you need to wear that thing again? Blah, that's horrid luck."

Cole went closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, at least I didn't get mentally traumatized by some random strangers, right?" He was referring to what he heard about Annalise's kidnapping. He somehow forgot that it made her uncomfortable until he saw the look on her face as she remembered.

"Hey." He placed his other hand on Annalise's shoulder. "It's over now, okay?" His face went a bit closer to hers, making tension and a feeling of uncomforting for Anna. "That was more than a year ago, Ann. You got me and the rest of your friends to protect you. You even have your agent friends, right?"

Anna nodded, not looking Cole in the eyes until after she was done nodding. "I do... But-"

"Shush, Anna." Cole placed a finger on her lips to quiet her. "They're not coming back. Don't worry."

Anna smiled through his finger and lifted her hand, placing it on his to lower his finger from her mouth. "Thanks for trying to be reassuring," she nodded to him.

He backed up a little bit and took his other hand from her shoulder, but keeping the hand that was covered by hers where it was. "You got nothing else to worry about, okay?" He then took his hand from under hers and placed it on top of her hand. "We got your back."

'_Oh man..._' This was making Anna blush. She thought she wouldn't, but she did. "Thanks..." She looked down sheepishly and smiled at the ground. She then felt two fingers brush her chin and pick her head up. She saw Cole smile sweetly to her, and she grinned back, her face turning a tomato shade of red. He then dropped his fingers and hugged Anna. She hugged him back, and watched him leave when they let go of each other. He turned around at one point before he descended the stairs and waved to her; she waved back and offered a small smile as he disappeared from view.

She picked up her diary and opened it again, finding the page where she was starting to talk about Cole. "There it is." She started writing what she had to write before the classroom door opened a bit later.

xXx

"This is Petty Officer Joaquim Beckett," McGee announced at the crime scene, after he was done taking the male victim's fingerprint, "He is 28 years old, and enlisted for four years in the Navy." McGee looked back at the body of a 6'0" male in service uniform; the bottom half of his top was stained red with blood, and a small radius of the ground around him was pooled with blood. The front part of his hair was covering his eyebrows, and the expression of his face seemed as if he was accepting his own mortality. Every case like this made McGee start to shudder, but he knew he would be teased by Tony if he showed it. So, he panned his view over to Gibbs and Ducky as they stepped into view, looking at the victim.

Ducky kneeled down and examined the victim. "Well, Mr. Beckett," Ducky began, "I am saddened to see you go. But we will find out who did this to you very soon..."

Gibbs looked at Ducky and asked, "Do you have an estimated time of death, Duck?"

"Ah, yes..." Ducky answered as he looked back over at the body.

Tony was observing all of this as he was taking photographs. He couldn't help himself most of the time; he had to hear what everyone was saying, for maybe his coworkers found something linking the men who had kidnapped Annalise to this new crime. There may be no possibility, though...

Until Tony browsed around with his camera and found a rope. This rope looked familiar, like he had seen it before. "Boss! Look at this!" He took a picture of the piece of rope after he called Gibbs over, and he picked it up with a gloved hand. It felt as familiar as it looked, and he recognized it after he browsed through memories. "Boss..." He looked over at Gibbs as soon as he arrived, "I found it. The evidence that might lock away the kidnappers."

Gibbs nodded and gave him a plastic bag. "Bag it, Tony." He nodded, "Abby'll look at it when it gets to her."

Tony bagged the piece of rope excitedly, knowing what this evidence might mean. If it was the same rope as the rope used to tie Annalise, there might be a link between the kidnapping and this murder. Abby would have to look at it first, but just having this rope in evidence made Tony's hopes rise. '_Anna, we're close to catching those guys now..._'

xXx

Hours passed. Classes dragged on and Annalise was getting a slight headache from it. She scratched her head with her nails and rubbed her hands together during each class, becoming bored. In Anatomy, the students only had to do a worksheet; '_At least we aren't doing the cat again,_' Anna thought at the time. In English, they had to write an essay, which Annalise didn't want to do. At least there was a lecture in History; after Mr. Paul's meltdown earlier about cheaters who cheated on an essay, she was glad nobody was doing vigorous work... yet. In Forensics, the class was finishing up _Catch Me If You Can_, which was good because she used the time to do her Pre-Cal homework. Because in Pre-Cal, they had a test that Annalise hated: Probability. She wrote so many notes in her diary about probability, but she just couldn't get it in her head!

It was finally 12:15. Lunch. She was glad she finished the test five minutes before lunch started, or she would probably be rolling around in eraser marks by then. She walked across the hall and on to a small bridge, where her group liked to hang out. She sat down on the ground and sighed to herself, "It's too bad Homestuck club isn't today, or I'd probably be seeing Marilynn by now." Marilynn was obsessed with Homestuck; in fact, she got a lot of people to start reading the web comic, including Annalise herself. She was trying to get Tanner, Alma and Monroe to read it now, but her efforts were somewhat futile. As long as some people were reading the comic, though, the club would stay open.

It would be a few more minutes until she saw the group come in. Marilynn stayed in the Graphic Design room while Tanner got lunch and hung out with his friends from his sport, so Anna didn't see them too much during lunch. It was Cole, Alma, Monroe and Pedo that she saw during lunch. Having her thoughts arranged, she opened her diary and took out her pen. She found where she talked about Cole earlier and wrote a bit more in her diary.

_Sorry I left you hanging earlier. Did you want me to talk about "Pedo" now? Alright. Pedo's real name is Peter Ramon. Peter really likes to draw... stuff. I don't want to go into too much detail with Peter's drawings, but let's just say that it's through his drawings that we gave him the nickname "Pedo". Well, we would've called him "Pedobear", but we figured just calling him "Pedo" suited him more since none of his drawings were about animals and **nothing** he drew had anything to do with Pedobear being his usual creepy self. No, his drawings were more of Peter being a... How do I say this... A guy. A perverted guy. Now let me sign off for now so nobody reads this entry; I don't want to be criticized by Pedo and Monroe, since Monroe is really used to Pedo's drawings by now. It's every other teenage guy, though, that wants Pedo to draw something for__ them..._

With the sound of familiar feminine giggling, she closed her diary and carefully put it in her backpack; giggling normally meant that Alma and Monroe were around. She was right; they burst through the door a few seconds later, holding hands and laughing. Alma wiped her eyes after what seemed to be a laughing fit, and Monroe readjusted his black-framed glasses to keep them from falling out. "Oh, Anna, you missed it!" Alma started to her smiling excitedly, "Monroe was talking about this parachuting maneuver from one of his games, and he was talking about the glitch that it had that made someone start disco-dancing in midair!"

Anna nodded, unusually quiet. Alma frowned, and Monroe squeezed her hand. He then looked over to Anna and asked, "Hey, you alright?"

Anna shrugged as her response. "I don't know..." She spoke after a pause, "I just have this horrid headache."

Just as she said that, Pedo walked in, holding a clipboard and his Miku doll. Anna turned to look at him, but developed no interest in what he drew this time; he probably just drew another girl with hair covering her private parts. She waited until Cole arrived to move to the other side of the bridge, and she glanced over to the completed group before she looked out to the horizon. She didn't know what exactly she was looking for, but she liked the wind blowing in her face.

xXx

"Abby?" It was almost time for the team's lunch break, and Tony went to visit Abby in her lab. His hair was still its same messy style than it was in the morning, even though he tried to fix it on numerous occasions. He tried to fix it again as he heard Abby's loud music, but to no avail did it become fixed. Sighing, he entered the lab and tried to look for the Gothic forensic scientist. He found her, alright; she was at the desk in front of Mass Spec with two flattened piles of Silly Putty and two pieces of rope in each of them. She was wearing her black hair in two braids that began on the top of her head, each one adorned with blood orange bows; she was wearing a black dress with a skull in the center of the dress, the skull being made of "bedazzles" (as Anna called them); and she wore her regular boots, but she wore a dog collar with a white skull in front of it and silver spikes on the sides.

Abby saw Tony and smiled excitedly, "Oh, you're just in time Tony! Come here." She went up to him and grabbed his arm, dragging it to the desk, and started pointing out everything she knew.

"Do you see these two piles of Silly Putty and the rope pieces in each one of them?" She started, knowing these questions were rhetorical. She started to remember showing this kind of thing to Anna while she was doing that chapter, so she continued as if she was talking to the teen. "Well, each rope has its own individual characteristics. The pattern on each rope could be diamond-shaped or crisscrossed, or the fibers could be in a slanted line. For example, straw has messy characteristics since they aren't very organized and the straw likes to get out of line most of the time. However, those disorganizations make the straw rope distinguishable from the other types of rope, and-"

"Abby," Tony paused her and asked, "get to the point. What does it have to do with the rope samples here?"

Abby smiled once again and explained, "I was just getting to that. You see, both of the pieces of rope look the same. But are they really?" She lifted each piece of rope from the Silly Putty and started pointing out characteristics from just the rope itself. "You see, they both look the same. They're the same color, same texture, even the same type of cut on each end." She put the pieces of rope back on the table and looked at the Silly Putty, signaling to Tony to look at it with her. "When you put rope in Silly Putty, the impressions left by the rope show the individual characteristics of the rope." She pointed to each impression, taking note of similarities. "Each of these diamond shapes are the same size and same perfect shape. The sides all appear to have the same measurement, and none of the fibers are sticking out of the diamonds. Also, look at the direction the fibers on the inside are heading."

Tony finished the thought, "They're all slanting to the right."

Abby nodded, "Yep! So even without looking at the two pieces of rope under the microscope, you can tell that these two pieces of rope were cut from the same longer rope, or they both are from the same manufacturer." She turned to head to the microscopes as she finished, "But I'd have to look under the comparison microscope to see if they really did come from the same piece of rope, but so far they're the same."

She turned around to tell Tony something else, something a bit more serious, but he was already gone. "Oh, shoot! I couldn't tell him that the guys might be back in town..."

xXx

Annalise was looking at the street below when she suddenly felt her pocket shake. "Cell phones, why?" She shook her head and looked at the caller ID on the screen: Agent D. She pressed the green button with her left index finger and nestled the phone in her hand. She then said, "Hey, Tony," and put the phone against her ear.

"Anna! Get yourself away from windows, okay?" Tony yelled through the phone, obviously distressed.

"Tony, what happened?" Anna felt the aura emitting from Tony with just that line, and she looked back out on the street.

Oh. Shit. That was what he was talking about.

Panicking, she ducked down below and accidentally dropped her phone in the process. She almost started to scream, but she restrained herself from doing so. She could feel hands on her shoulders as she clamped her eyes closed, and she could hear a swarm of voices at once.

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

It was Cole's voice, however, that set everyone else's voices apart. "...What did you see?"

Anna opened her eyes and took a few deep breaths before she finally answered him. "...They're back."

"Who?" Cole bent down to her level, maintaining direct eye contact with the worried girl.

As Annalise became silent again, Pedo and the couple also bent down to her eye level. She could see that everyone's expressions were stern, and it calmed her down a little bit.

"The guys who kidnapped me..." She finally said after a minute or so, "One of them is here."

* * *

A/C: Well, this took me forever. I had so many other stories in mind, but I somewhat gave up on them... This is the one that, after reading more reviews, I'm sticking to. The others mentioned in the story are based on real people, especially Pedo and Tanner... :3 Anyway, hopefully I can update quicker with this story, but I will need some suggestions since two AP classes are NOT helping me with any FanFiction writing... So, yeah; this appears to be the return of Annalise! The style of how I wrote when I was 14 is much different than how I write now at 16, so it explains a bit, if you notice any differences between "Adopted" and this story.


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